ChatGPT vs Claude vs Copilot vs Perplexity vs Maybe* AI Agents: What’s the Difference and When to Use Each 🤷
By Polly Barnfield, OBE, CEO of Maybe*
The AI market is crowded with tools: ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Perplexity. Each promises to change the way we work. But here’s the catch: not every AI tool is built to deliver business outcomes.
Some are great for generating ideas or answering questions. Others specialise in search or embedding into specific platforms. And then there are Maybe* AI Agents for business, which are designed to act like digital teammates. They work inside your business tools to deliver repeatable outcomes and even full business processes you provide to clients.
In this guide, we’ll break down what each tool does best, when to use them, and when to choose a Maybe* AI Agent instead.
1. ChatGPT (OpenAI)
Category: General-purpose conversational AI.
Strengths:
Great for brainstorming, Q&A, and writing drafts.
Easy to use for anyone.
Limitations:
Doesn’t know your brand or policies.
Not connected to your CRM, docs, or workflows.
Provides information but doesn’t execute processes.
Verdict: ChatGPT is like a smart assistant you can talk to. It is useful for quick answers but it will not run your business.
2. Claude (Anthropic)
Category: Conversational AI with a safety and ethics focus.
Strengths:
Handles very long documents.
Tuned for safety and helpfulness.
Limitations:
Still chat-based, not action-based.
Doesn’t integrate into your stack without developer work.
Verdict: Claude is a thoughtful analyst but it will not deliver outcomes on its own.
3. Copilot (Microsoft / GitHub)
Category: Embedded AI assistant.
Strengths:
Built directly into Microsoft Office or GitHub.
Great for boosting productivity in those environments.
Limitations:
Locked into Microsoft’s ecosystem.
Not cross-platform or customisable beyond those tools.
Verdict: Copilot is a built-in helper if you are all-in on Microsoft but limited outside that suite.
4. Perplexity
Category: AI-powered search engine.
Strengths:
Retrieves live information with citations.
Great for research and fact-checking.
Limitations:
Focused on information retrieval not automation.
Outputs answers, not branded deliverables.
Verdict: Perplexity is a supercharged researcher, not a doer.
5. Maybe* AI Agents
Category: Outcome-driven digital teammates.
Strengths:
On-brand and compliant: AI Agents are trained on your brand voice, documents, and rules.
Integrated: Connect with 2,000+ business tools (HubSpot, Slack, Notion, Salesforce, Excel, and more).
Outcome-driven: Build reports, automate workflows, handle support, generate campaigns, check compliance.
Repeatable business processes: Beyond single tasks, Maybe* Agents can power end-to-end processes you deliver to clients. From reporting cycles to service delivery routines, your business can scale without manual overhead.
Access to all major LLMs: OpenAI (ChatGPT), Claude, Google Gemini, Meta LLaMA, Mistral and more. Each Agent runs on the best model for the job.
Easy to deploy: With the patent-pending Maybe* platform, anyone can design and launch Agents without coding or consultants.
Verdict: Maybe* is the only AI platform that gives you model choice plus tool integration. It turns AI into repeatable business outcomes and client-facing processes.
Quick Analogy
ChatGPT / Claude = Smart assistants you can chat with.
Copilot = A helper locked inside Microsoft’s suite.
Perplexity = A researcher that finds and cites answers.
Maybe* AI Agents = Digital teammates that act, not just chat. They run your workflows and client deliverables.
LLM vs AI Agent: When to Use Each
Use an LLM (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Perplexity) when:
You need a quick answer, draft, or idea.
You are doing ad-hoc research or fact-checking.
You want to summarise a long document.
You are happy working outside your business systems.
👉 Think of LLMs as assistants you can talk to.
Use a Maybe* AI Agent when:
You want repeatable, on-brand outcomes such as reports, campaigns, or customer replies.
You need to integrate with your tools such as CRM, docs, support, or marketing stack.
You care about policy compliance, security, and brand voice.
You want to save 8–12 hours per week per Agent.
You want to deliver repeatable business processes to your clients such as standardised reports, onboarding, audits, and service delivery.
You want to run different LLMs in one place, choosing the best model for each job.
👉 Think of Maybe* AI Agents for business as digital teammates that deliver outcomes at scale.
Examples in Action
ChatGPT: Ask it for a sales report → it will draft a generic report using placeholder data.
Claude: Paste in a 200-page contract → it will summarise and flag risks.
Copilot: In Excel → it will suggest a formula or clean a dataset.
Perplexity: Ask a market trend question → it will pull a cited answer from the web.
Maybe* AI Agent: A Reporting Agent connects to your CRM, pulls real data, formats it on-brand, and emails the report to your team or client every week automatically.
FAQs
Q: Can I use ChatGPT and Maybe* together?
Yes. Maybe* can run on top of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Mistral, and more. You are not choosing between them. You are adding execution, integration, and repeatable client processes on top.
Q: What if my business already uses Copilot?
Great. Copilot is excellent inside Microsoft tools. But Maybe* spans your entire stack, so you can connect Outlook with HubSpot, Slack, or Notion in ways Copilot cannot.
Q: Isn’t Perplexity enough for research?
Perplexity is fantastic for finding and citing information. But it will not build a branded deliverable, update your CRM, or automate a workflow. That is the job of Maybe* Agents.
Q: Do I need technical skills to use Maybe*?
No. The patent-pending Maybe* platform is built for non-technical teams. You can launch your first AI Agents in minutes.
There is no one best AI.
The key is knowing when to use an LLM for conversation, research, or drafts, and when to deploy an AI Agent for outcomes, processes, and scale.
ChatGPT is for conversation.
Claude is for careful analysis.
Copilot is for Microsoft users.
Perplexity is for research.
Maybe* is for execution.
👉 With Maybe*, you get the best of both worlds: all the leading LLMs plus all your business tools, in one platform designed for repeatable business outcomes.
With Maybe* anything is possible.
